Stephen Curry (Amazing Athletes)

With NBA basketball playoffs in full swing, you may want to build on young fans' excitement with these biographies of our local favorite star Steph Curry.

When my students choose sports books for themselves, I really encourage them to look inside and see if the text seems right for them. Here are three books that work well for developing readers--shared from easier to more difficult.

Amazing Athletes is a very popular series with our 2nd & 3rd graders, and they love this Stephen Curry book by Jon Fishman. As you can see in the sample below, this is written with fuller paragraphs. The layout and design make this easy for readers who are developing confidence to tackle. Full color photographs and captions complement the exciting text. This biography focuses more on his early years & college playing than Curry's difficult beginning of his pro career.

"Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors were losing to the Dallas Mavericks on February 4, 2015. Dallas had been hot since the opening tip-off... Golden State coach Steve Kerr didn't panic. He knew that with Stephen on the team, the Warriors would never be too far behind to catch up."

For readers ready to learn more about Curry's career and training style, search out Stephen Curry (Sports All-Stars), by Eric Braun. With more complex sentences and longer paragraphs, this biography works best with confident readers in 3rd or 4th grade. Just look at its opening. The writing is engaging, but definitely more complicated than the other two books.

NBA scouts nearly overlooked point guard Stephen Curry. Most NBA stars come from well-known schools, but not Stephen. He played for Davidson College in North Carolina, where he set the all-time scoring record for his university and his conference. In 2007-2008, he set the all-time college record for most three-point shots made in a season. Stephen was the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft, chosen by the Golden State Warriors. He has racked up impressive stats ever since and led his team to the best record in the NBA midway through the 2014-2015 season.